作者：Craig Chapple

前几年我们见证了独立发行商的不断壮大与发展。

几乎每个月都会出现一家新发行商承诺要帮助你发行你的全新游戏并将其推销给那些足够挑剔的用户。

当然了，为自己的游戏发行争取支持力量或找到能够资助你开发具有创造性的新理念的合适公司是非常重要的。但在这个被Devolver Digital，505 Games，Team17，Curve Digital，Kiss，Versus Evil，Sold Out，Green Man Loaded等发行商不断挤满的市场中，你该如何才能为自己找到合适的发行商呢？

从根本上看，Team17的总经理Debbie Bestwick（游戏邦注：已经帮助了大受欢迎的独立游戏《逃脱者》赚取了1000万美元的利益）认为最关键的一点便是确保发行商能够为你的游戏增添价值。而价值的范围可以从媒体，市场营销，销量，后端测试，本土化，主机提交到添加额外开发资源去优化游戏等。

增添价值

她说道：“如果你所交流的所有发行商都不能为你的游戏增添价值的话，你最好径直走开。”

Curve Digital的发行总监Simon Byron补充道，其中还包含提交内容，认证，支持，PR，市场营销和社区支持等基本元素。根据你们所签订的协议，这些基本内容还可以包含开发支持，即不管是创意方面还是财政方面。

但当你身处这些协议时你还有许多需要注意的事。你必须避免自己被别人所利用了。

Sold Out的业务开发总监Garry Williams说道：“你应该仔细观察你打算合作的对象，询问清楚他们合作过的开发者—-他们是否能够及时付钱以及是否真的能够提供所承诺的东西？”

“你应该竭力避开那些想要获取你的IP或试图将你的公司做作为协议一部分的人。最理想的情况是你应该找到那种能够随时开始且随时终止的发行支持力量。你应该确保发行合作伙伴能够使用自己的管理技能和出色的发行支持为你的游戏增添价值。”

Byron表示开发者还应该留意发行商在游戏发行后表现不佳时所做出的反应。毕竟并不是所有游戏在一开始就有好销量的。

他说道：“当然了，我们都希望游戏能够尽可能地卖好，但你也必须清楚如果事情不能有效发展的话，你们应该拥有的是一个长期计划而非只是耸耸肩。”

艰苦的谈判

他补充道，在协商过程中，开发者应该做好万全的准备。清楚自己需要什么以及能够接受怎样的条件。他表示出色的发行商通常都不会想尽办法去说服对方签字，同时他也希望开发者能够警惕任何有关时间压力的规定。

505 Games全球品牌兼市场营销高级副总裁Tim Woodley表示，你应该确保自己能够询问潜在发行商与平台所有者和数字市场领导者（游戏邦注：如Valve，苹果，索尼，任天堂，微软和谷歌等）之间的关系。确保你的发行商与你的目标平台上的巨头们具有紧密联系非常重要。

他解释道：“他们都是一些全新的‘零售商’，而现在能够出现在商店前方仍与我们在沃尔玛，乐购或Micromania销售盒装产品一样重要。所以你应该问清楚你的发行商与相关的第一方零售商之间的关系，他们多久见一次面以及他们‘买进’游戏的方式。”

清楚自己想从发行商手中获得什么是你的准备过程中的唯一组成部分。开发者需要面向适当的合作伙伴有效地推广自己。

Bestwick认为开发者不应该总是担心这担心那。如果你的游戏足够优秀，它便一定能够达成交易。同时她也提供了一些有帮助的建议。

她说道：“我能够分享的最佳建议便是认真调查自己所创造的游戏类型。着眼于相似的游戏并搞清楚自己的游戏是否有出现在市场前列的可能性，并决定何时发行游戏最合适。”

自信

Williams认为开发者不能只是呈现出优秀的游戏以及对于项目的满腔热情，同时也应该拥有充足的准备与完善的计划。

他解释道：“尽管像SWOT（优势，弱势，机遇和威胁）等分析开始变得无聊，但是考虑你为什么对某种类型的游戏充满热情，你想要如何发行这个项目以及你计划如何将这款游戏展现在玩家面前等内容都是很有帮助的。”

“也许这听起来再基础不过，但还是有很多人投入太多时间于‘概念’以及同事们的看法中而忽视了时间安排，成本，市场营销以及市场调查等计划中。”

Kiss的市场营销总监David Clark表示他希望能够尽快且轻松地了解到游戏是关于什么内容以及它与其它游戏有何区别。

他说道：“如果连我们都判断不出来的话消费者该怎么办？”并表示发送一份400页的设计文件只能突出你的写作能力而已。

Clark建议：“尽量确保内容够短—-这将使你能够专注于关键细节，删除所有不必要的背景信息。显然某种形式的架构非常重要，我们也更喜欢那些充满热情和创造性的内容。”

需要注意的是发行商每周都会收到各种形式各种规格的宣传内容。Woodley表示505 Games通常都会根据团队源自哪里去评估一个项目。

如果是支大团队，发行商便会期待看到拥有更多细节且准备完善的宣传内容。他表示，发行商们都能理解全新的独立开发者往往缺少宣传自己的经验，所以他们对于这类型开发者的期待值便不会设太高。

他说道：“对于小型工作室，我们会经常与那些对发行内容没有经验的开发者进行交谈。我们会通过询问一些他们甚至未曾考虑过的问题去帮助他们更好地完善宣传内容。”

合适的时间

但是并非所有发行商都能够理解那些较糟糕的宣传内容，所以你最好能够仔细阅读这里所提供的所有建议并在协商重要交易前认真问自己这些问题。

而一旦你完成对于发行商的了解并掌握了宣传过程后，你需要决定何时该接近你的潜在合作者？而不同发行商给出的答案也是不同的—-所以这再次提醒你需要花些时间去找出最适合自己需求的合作者。

Bestwick说道：“尽管大家都认为我们是根据截图和视觉效果去签下任何游戏，但其实我们通常都会仔细观察并尝试游戏，即使那时候游戏可能还只是一个原型。”

“对于首次会议你最好能够清楚地呈现出游戏生产愿景的细节以及团队的详细介绍—-要知道团队与游戏一样重要。”

Woodley也同意至少应该在宣传中提供游戏的原型。尽管他相信“优秀的理念是关键”，但他也希望看看游戏是否接近完成阶段或者还处于概念阶段。

他解释道：“这能展现出开发者非常坚定自己的想法并相信自己的理念。同时也能够向我们展示出纸上看起来很不错的理念实际表现会是怎样的。我认为最成功的宣传通常都是带有某种形式的游戏原型。”

Williams也补充道，展示一些代码去测试游戏概念的外观与感觉也能够帮助游戏之后的市场营销。

他说道：“不要太晚才去呈现游戏的外观与感觉，我们都应该尽早计划游戏的市场营销。我们都应该将这种技能带进业务中，这能够帮助我们获得更多回报，而早期阶段所获得的反馈也能够帮助我们避免之后遇到的各种不必要的麻烦。”

全新发行商

尽管产业中还是存在许多开发者被邪恶的发行交易所骗的负面故事，但是这一领域已经与5年前或10年前大不相同了。多亏了独立发行的机遇，如今的开发者拥有了更大的权利—-可发现性也不再是难以解决的问题了。

Woodley表示今天的发行商更加看重开发者“作为我们产业中不可或缺的重要角色，如果没有了他们，我们便什么都不是。”他表示对于那些早前的负面故事而导致越来越多独立发行商的出现这一现象一点都不惊讶，并且有许多独立发行商都是来自开发工作室本身，如Team17和Curve，而不管是独立发行商还是大型发行商，他们都“致力于纠正过去所犯下的种种错误。”

他说道：“今天的发行商必须比过去更加多元化且更加灵活。如今产业的改变节奏似乎从未放缓过。”

“不管是在消费者市场营销这样的特殊领域，即每个月都在改变的消费者行为将推动你做出全新的消费者交流行为，或者是在业务模式和分销渠道中，现代发行商都必须随着周边的改变反复评估并完善自己。”

揭开发行面纱

Byron表示今天与过去的真正区别在于发行的神秘感消失了。他表示如今真正优秀的发行商都是有责任感，公开且诚实的。

他表示从未让开发者看过版税报告的行为是“非常可耻的”。随着社交媒体的发展以及越来越多竞争发行商的出现，那些行为不当的发行商很快便会发现自己成为了众矢之的，并且不会再有开发者愿意与之合作了。

Byron还补充道，如今的发行商需要更努力与这些开发者建立关系，因为他们面对着来自所有平台的可发现性挑战。

他说道：“几乎所有人都具有编写游戏的能力意味着只是突显于数字或实体商店上是远远不够的。”

“我们还需要更努力地说服合作者与我们共事—-总是会有人认为独自工作与和发行商合作的结果是一样的，并且还能省下不少钱。但是比起吞噬开发者的利益，真正优秀的发行商就像阳光一般能够赋予创造性过程足够的能量。”

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

How do you find the right publisher for you?

By Craig Chapple

The last couple of years have seen the rise and rise of the indie publisher.

Barely a month goes by without the announcement of a new publisher that promises to help you get your brand new game off the ground and market it to a discerning audience.

It can be critical, of course, to get support for your game’s release, or find the right company to help fund development of your innovative and exciting new idea. But in a market increasingly full of publishers like Devolver Digital, 505 Games, Team17, Curve Digital, Kiss, Versus Evil, Sold Out, Green Man Loaded and more, how do you find the right publisher for you?

As far as the basics go, Team17 MD Debbie Bestwick, whose company has helped indie hit The Escapists make some $10m, says the most important thing is to make sure a publisher adds value. This can range from media, marketing, sales, backend testing, localisation or console submissions, through to helping add polish with additional development resources.

Value-add

“If any publisher you are talking to can’t add value, simply walk away,” she says.

Curve Digital publishing director Simon Byron adds that some the basics can include anything to do with submissions, certification, support, PR, marketing and community support. Depending on the agreement, this may also include development support too, either creatively or financially.

But there’s a lot to look out for when taking part in those tricky negotiations. And it’s important not to get taken advantage of.

“Check out the people you intend to work with, ask around and question the developers who have worked with them – did they pay on time, and did they deliver?” says Sold Out business development director Garry Williams.

“Avoid any who seek your IP or shares of your company as part of any deal to get to market. Ideally look for publishing support that can be turned on and off like a tap – as and when needed. Be certain that the publishing partner can add value to your game with lifecycle management skills and genuine publishing support.”

Byron says developers should also look out for how a publisher reacts to a game that performs poorly after release. After all, not all games will sell well from the off.

“Sure, we all want our games to sell as well as they can – but you need to know that if things don’t work out initially, that there is a longer-term plan beyond a shrug of the shoulders,” he says.

Tough talk

He adds that during negotiations, developers should be prepared. Know what you’re asking for and what you’re willing to accept. He says that a good publisher shouldn’t need to go out their way to make sweeping demands to convince you to sign, while also warning devs to be wary of anyone putting on time pressures.

505 Games global brand and marketing SVP Tim Woodley says another thing to make sure you ask your potential publishing partner is about their relationships with platform holders and digital marketplace leaders, like Valve, Apple, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft and Google. Making sure your publisher has close ties with the major players on your target platform is crucial.

“They are the new ‘retailers’ and getting front of store is no less important now than it was when we were selling boxes into Walmart, Tescos or Micromania,” he explains. “Ask your publisher about their relationship with the relevant first-party retailers, how often they meet and their approach to ‘selling-in’ their titles.”

Making sure you know what you are looking for from publishers is only part of the preparation, of course. Developers need to deliver a successful pitch for their due diligence on the right partner to matter.

Bestwick says developers need not always worry too much. If the game is good enough, it will always get a deal. But she has some useful tips to keep in mind.

“The best advice I can share is please research the game you are making,” she says. “Look at every similar game and know why your game is going to stand out above what’s in the market now and also at the time your game will actually be released.”

Self-belief

Williams believes developers need to show not only a great game and clear enthusiasm for the project, but also evidence of clear preparation and planning.

“Although things like SWOT (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis start to sound boring, an idea of why you have a passion for a genre, how you intend to deliver the project and your plan to place this game in front of consumers are all really helpful,” he explains.

“It may sound basic, but too many people get caught up with the ‘concept’ and the thoughts of their peer group, and spend too little time considering schedules, costs, marketing and planning to reach market with impact.”

Kiss head of marketing David Clark says he wants to understand as quickly and as easily as possible exactly what the game is about and what sets it apart from others.

“If we can’t work it out, then how will the customer?” he says, adding that sending across a 400-page design document will only highlight how good you are at writing, “but not a lot else”.

“Keep it short – it forces you to focus on the key details and removes the unnecessary background info,” advises Clark. “Obviously a build of some kind is essential and we react best to enthusiasm and originality.”

It’s important to note that publishers receive pitches of all shapes and sizes every week. Woodley says that 505 Games often evaluates a project according to where the team has originated.

If it’s a larger team, its expectations for a thoroughly prepared pitch with a high level of detail are greater. He says, however, that the publisher understands how new and lone developers may not have the experience to deliver the perfect pitch, so expectations for this stage of proceedings may be lowered.

“For smaller, micro-studios – say at MCV and Develop’s Interface events, for example – quite often we’re talking to people who have no experience or expectations as to how publishing even works,” he states. “We will help them get their pitches into a better state for the official greenlight discussion by asking them some of the questions which perhaps they haven’t considered.”

The right time

Not all publishers may be so understanding of a poorly delivered pitch however, so reading up on advice given here or asking for it yourself may be a smart move before commencing discussions for that all-important deal.

But once you’ve done your research on publishers, and understood the pitching process, when is the best time to approach a potential partner? The answer seems to differ between publishers – another reason why it’s important to spend time finding the best fit for your unique requirements.

“Even though I’ve been known to sign a game based only on screenshots and a vision, ideally we would always like to see, and more importantly, play, code, even if it’s a just a working prototype rather than a polished level,” says Bestwick.

“Other important things to bring to the initial meetings are details of your production vision and detail of the team you have in place – the team is as important as the game being made.”

Woodley agrees that at least a prototype is required for a successful pitch. While he believes “a good idea is a good idea”, and will take a look at any game whether it’s close to completion or at the concept stage, a proven idea is ideal.

“It shows that the developer has the courage of their convictions and genuinely believes in the idea,” he explains. “And two, it shows us that what looked like a good idea on paper is starting to manifest itself in code. I would say that the most successful pitches which come to our greenlight table more often than not have some sort of prototype already developed.”

Williams adds that showing a generous amount of code to test the look and feel of a game’s concept can also help when it comes to marketing later on.

“Don’t wait too long delivering this look and feel as we all really benefit from planning marketing into the concept as soon as is possible,” he states. “We genuinely believe we add skills to your business and will help maximise returns, so feedback at an early stage can often save a lot of wasted effort later down the line.”

A new brand of publisher

While there are still horror stories that make their way around the games industry of developer’s burned by bad publishing deals, the sector is certainly different to the landscape of five or ten years ago. More power is now in the hands of developers, thanks for the opportunities in self-publishing – though discoverability is not an issue to be taken lightly.

Woodley says today’s publishers are more respectful of the fact that developers “are the life-blood talent of our industry, without them we are nothing”. He says it’s no surprise from those older horror stories that more indie publishers have sprung up in recent years, often from development studios themselves, such as Team17 and Curve, to disenfranchised individuals from major publishers “looking to put right some of the wrongs of the past”.

“Publishers of today also have to be a lot more dynamic and flexible than the publishers of the past,” he says. “The pace of change in our industry is showing no signs of slowing.

“Whether it’s in specific areas of, for example, consumer marketing, where changing behaviours are throwing up new best practises in consumer communications almost every month, or more broadly in terms of business models and distribution channels, it is important for the modern-era publishers to keep re-evaluating and re-inventing themselves as the changes happen around them.”

Lifting the publishing veil

Byron says the real difference these days is that much of the mystery around publishing has been removed. Good publishers are accountable, open and honest, he states.

He cites tales of developers never seeing royalty reports, which he labels “absolutely disgraceful”. And those bad deals raise a good point, with the prevalence of social media and so many publishers in competition – a bad publisher will quickly find themselves in the headlines and out of favour with developers.

Byron adds that publishers now also have to work harder for these developers, given the tough discoverability challenges they face across all platforms.

“The ability for almost anyone to write a game means that it’s no longer enough just to be featured in a digital or physical store,” he says.

“We also need to work harder to convince partners to work with us – there’s often the assumption that the results from going it alone or with a publisher will be the same, albeit keeping all the money. Good publishers should be the sunshine energising the creative process rather than a dark cloud sucking up whatever per cent of revenue they’re screwing you for.”（source：develop-online）